


looking glass

by magesamell



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst and Humor, Denial of Feelings, Episode: s01 L'Imposteur | Copycat, F/M, Insecurity, Jealousy, Kwami Swap, marinette and plagg do crimes, marinette suffering from acute "he's just a friend" disease
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-26 13:40:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20743100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magesamell/pseuds/magesamell
Summary: There were some things, which she could admit only in the company of the moon, that she loved about being Chat Noir.kwami swap au





	looking glass

“Can’t you just go up and talk to him like a normal person?”

“Absolutely not,” Marinette told her kwami. “Now go be the lookout.”

“Fine, fine,” rasped the tiny cat-god, and floated toward the doorway.

In the distance, irregular thuds and hisses joined the grating jingling of Marinette’s fumbled efforts. That was before she started cursing. 

“_What _ are you _ doing_?”

“Nothing! Just keep watch!”

Marinette dropped into a crouch, peering at the latch of the locker from below.

“Are you trying to pick a combination lock by guessing?”

Marinette yelped, falling back onto her butt. She glared at her kwami, who was most certainly at her shoulder and not keeping watch.

“Maybe,” she grumbled. “Do you have a better idea?”

The cat shot her an unimpressed stare, blinked once, and phased through the front door of the locker. Something clicked and the door flew open.

“Oh my god,” said Marinette. “Oh my god, Plagg, you are amazing.”

“Yeah, yeah. Here’s that guy’s phone. Can we get out of here now?”

Voices sounded down the hall. With alarm, Marinette realized the background noise of fencing practiced had ceased entirely. “Yes, yes, we’re going right now!”

“Great, it smells horrible in here.”

“You’re one to talk,” said Marinette, peering into the hallway. Coast was clear, but the fencers were inbound. Approaching fast.

“Hey! I take offense to that. I’m very clean.”

“I was talking about your _ camembert _ obsession,” she whispered, and scurried across the hall into the opposite room, the girls’ bathroom. She hovered behind the door, waited for the voices to pass, and then left the building.

Outside the school, she admired her bounty: Adrien’s phone. Now she just had to figure out how to unlock it and delete the message. She couldn’t believe Alya had convinced her to leave one in the first place. Bad idea. The worst. It was best to admire Adrien from afar. Doing something about it would only screw everything up. Marinette nodded solemnly in agreement with herself. 

Plagg flew in front of her face. “Hey, wasn’t that statue unveiling ceremony today?”

All the color drained out of her face. “That’s _ today! _?”

-o-

She was late. Incredibly late. Unforgivable late, really. Trust Adrien shenanigans to throw her entire time table off. Great, she thought as the wind bit at her cheeks, more opportunity to look bad in front of _ Monsieur Perfect_.

In the back of her mind, some annoying voice (which certainly wasn’t her conscience) told her it was silly to be disproportionately resentful of her...co-worker, who had done nothing wrong but be Paris’ Chosen One and have good hair. 

But when she asked Plagg — “Am I developing an inferiority complex about you know who?” — he had only replied: “Hope not. That guy is super lame.”

Having a kwami was almost like having a therapist, if that therapist had blatant disregard for human social mores. 

By the time she arrived at the ceremony, the entire crowd was gone. Nobody was left except the sculptor and _ Monsieur Perfect _ himself, an annoying vision in red and black.

“Ah!” Paris’ hero greeted her. “There she is now. Chat Noir!”

“Ladybug,” she acknowledged, landing in front of the duo. She retracted her baton and stowed it behind her back, 

“Theo was just telling me how much he enjoyed designing the statue,” said Ladybug with a huge smile. His teeth gleamed perfectly in the afternoon sun. Chat Noir’s eye twitched. She turned to the sculptor, if only to escape Ladybug’s scrutiny.

“I am such a huge fan, Chat Noir,” he said, extending his hand. “I’m Theo.”

She shook it, and Theo grinned at her. “You are so amazing. I hoped to capture your energy in the sculpture — you’re absolutely mesmerizing.”

Chat Noir laughed. “I’m just a sidekick,” she said. In her periphery, she saw Ladybug frown. 

“I don’t think that’s true at all. You are — of course, no disrespect to you, Ladybug, sir—“ Ladybug nodded graciously, “but Chat Noir, you are the heart of the team. You bring vivacity and spirit to every fight.”

Didn’t this guy know how serious akumas were? They weren’t a game, or an art piece. Also, she wouldn’t call the untempered destructive power of her cataclysm “vivacious.” She wasn’t like Ladybug. He brought life. She destroyed it.

Whatever. It wasn’t the first time a civilian got the wrong idea about miraculouses. 

“Thank you,” Chat Noir said, offering Theo her best fake smile. “It’s a beautiful piece. I’m so sorry I wasn’t here for the ceremony.”

“No, no, no, thank you,” gushed Theo. “I’m sorry, I must be going, I have another client waiting. I hope to see you again sometime, Chat Noir!”

With that, Ladybug and Chat Noir watched him climb onto a moped and speed off.

“That guy is so weird,” murmured Ladybug. He recrossed his arms, shifting on his feet like he was trying to get comfortable again.

“I know, right!?” Chat Noir exclaimed, swiveling on her heel to face her partner. “He really loves Chat Noir. Like, too much.” She took a step towards him, bumping her elbow against his. Ladybug took the hit but did not stumble. Ladybug, of course, was not easily flustered.

Current situation aside, of course. Chat Noir watched Ladybug’s shoulders bunch up near his ears. 

“He spent the whole time we were waiting for you talking to me about how great you were. Telling me things like he knew you. Like, I know! I know, I’m Ladybug, I know about Chat Noir.” 

Ladybug expelled a quiet, irritated huff. He had said all of it so quickly, like if he stopped to breathe he would have never gotten it out. Chat Noir frowned at him. It wasn’t like Ladybug to be truly vexed. Or to be unkind. Or, for that matter, to call people 'weird.'

“I’m sorry I was late,” Chat Noir offered. “Sorry I missed the ceremony.” She paused. “Sorry you had to listen to him ramble about me.”

Ladybug turned sharply away from her, looking blankly into street. “It’s fine.”

Chat Noir watched the curve of his cheek pull into a pout. She smirked. It was time for her favorite game. Her only leverage against Ladybug’s incredible powers and insane good looks and inherent, insufferable goodness.

“Oh, come on, bug,” she said, poking him again with her elbow. “Don’t be cross. You know nobody knows this cat better than you. You’re my number one fan,” she pronounced, and snaked her arm through his, hooking their elbows. Ladybug closed his eyes. Chat Noir grinned, and leaned even closer.

“It’s unbecoming for a superhero to be jealous, you know,” she whispered into his ear. A joke. “My lady,” she called him, so he would know she wasn’t serious.

Ladybug shuddered, turning into her embrace in one quick motion. It startled her, and she moved away, releasing her hold on him. Ladybug caught her wrist, though, and looked at her.

He’s got very green eyes, Chat Noir thought, and chastised herself for the banality of thinking it and noticing such a thing in the first place. 

“You’re not my sidekick, you know,” he told her. Chat Noir tried to push away, but Ladybug held her steady. He was always so serious. Had to be, Chat Noir guessed, you had to be serious if you were Ladybug and you carried the burden of Paris’ good humor on your shoulders. She really didn’t want to have this conversation. 

“I’m serious,” he insisted, and she laughed. “Theo was right about that. He was right about a lot of things.”

She cast him a doubtful look, about to remind him that they both had just laughed at Theo’s ridiculousness, but Ladybug kept talking.

“You’re not a sidekick, we’re partners. And you’re not the heart of the team, although having you around always raises my spirits. You’re the intellect, Chat.” He thumbed her wrist, and she stared at the notion, in disbelief that this was happening. That he was really saying these things to her. “D’you remember Stoneheart, and the first Lucky Charm, and how I couldn’t figure any of it out without you? You solved it. You solve all of them.”

“Not all of them,” she protested.

“Most of them.”

Under half, if she was being generous to herself. Chat Noir shook her head. “If you say so, bug. You’re in charge, after all.”

“Sometimes I think I’d rather you were in charge.”

Chat Noir stared. Theo really must have done a number on him. God, she would never be late to an obligation again if she could avoid one of these moods. 

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she told him. “Ladybug isn’t supposed to be ridiculous.”

Ladybug met her gaze, eyes bright and burning. He looked very much like he wanted to say something, but the burn faltered, and then everything about him shuttered closed as he sighed.“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, you’re right.” 

For several moments he just kept looking at her, and Chat Noir was afraid he was going to say something else. Then his eyes widened.

“Oh my god,” Ladybug said, slack jawed. “I’m totally late. N—she is going to kill me.” He dropped her hand. “See you later. Bye!”

Chat Noir heard him throw his yo-yo and spin into the sky, but she didn’t turn to watch him leave. 

This was a weird, weird day. Chat Noir clapped her hands together. “Time to break into a phone.”

-o-

Marinette took off her mittens, and picked up her phone.

_ complete success, _she texted Alya.

** _you’re a freak,_ ** said Alya. ** _and congratulations. _ **

Marinette was still smiling at her perfectly executed triumph when Plagg ruined the moment, 

“I think Loverboy likes you.”

“You’re joking.” Marinette swiveled away from her desk to glare at the naughty kwami. Unaffected, Plagg lounged on her settee and took another bite of cheese, looking very much like he was not joking.

“There’s no way Ladybug likes me,” said Marinette, adopting the tone she used when she lectured Manon. “His _ sidekick_.”

Plagg rolled his eyes. “You’re not a sidekick, Marinette. You’re the only one who thinks you are. That’s besides the point, though.” He blinked his big green eyes. Marinette narrowed hers. 

The cat grinned at her. “Loverboy has it _ bad_.”

“He does not!” Marinette shrieked, scandalized. She put her hands up in front of her — whether to ward off the idea of it or to placate Plagg into shutting up, she didn’t know. “Even if he did,” she sputtered, “and he _ doesn’t _ — I would be able to tell.”

“I’m just saying. We could keep going on heists and concocting ridiculous plans to woo Adrien, a boy you hardly know and never looks at you, or you could give Ladybug a chance, a boy who looks at you all the time.”

Marinette blinked. _ What? _

Plagg yawned. “It’s nauseating, really. With that and all his spinning around, it gives me vertigo like you would not believe.” He did look green — well, green-er, talking about it.

Marinette shook her head. “Wait-wait-wait-wait-wait,” she said, “how do you even know this? You get all...slurped up when I’m Chat Noir.” She rolled her chair over to the settee and peered at him. “You mean you can see what I’m doing when I’m transformed?”

Plagg stared at her, unimpressed. “I’m an ancient magical energy life form from the birth of the universe. I can see all around. I have eyes in the back of your head.”

Marinette snorted. “That would be dead useful in fights, you know.”

“Puny human brain can’t process that much stimuli.”

“Could too.”

“Suuuuure,” Plagg chuckled. “Says the girl having a full-on meltdown just to deflect from the mere suggestion that Loverboy might like her.”

Marinette stood up. 

“You’re a cat. You don’t know anything about love.”

“You’re sixteen. Neither do you.”

Marinette flushed.

“Plagg...”

“You realize you can’t avoid me this way. What did I _ just _ say—“

“—Transform me!”

-o-

Cats don’t fly, but Chat Noir came pretty close.

The sound of her feet on rooftops, the regular beat was soothing to her. The rise and fall of lifting herself into the air and catching herself, the swift and satisfying metal snick sound of her baton as it expanded and retracted. 

These were the things she liked about being Chat Noir. The rest...she could do without. 

In the beginning, she had tried to bow out, tried to convince her kwami that Ladybug could handle everything on his end. But Plagg had annoyed her into action, flying into her head and buzzing in her ear and burping and meowing until she relented. 

It should have been fun to be Chat Noir. She wanted it to be fun — like a video game — some fantastical persona she could put on and pretend to be someone else, someone grand, powerful, in control.

She didn’t feel in control when she was Chat. She felt small. She felt watched. She felt like some silly teenage girl in a ridiculous cat costume. And when Ladybug gave the order and Chat Noir summoned cataclysm, part of her just want to keep going and going. Let the magic alight and take. Let it take it all.

She got so angry so very easily. She was blunt, clumsy. She provoked Chloe and upset Manon and left horrible, earnest, embarrassing voice mails. Thank god Ladybug was around to check her behavior. 

And even this, even now was petulant. Stupid. Sure, most days she blundered around and fell into conflict and confrontation. But sometimes, if it was important enough, she would run for the hills. Or the rooftops, more accurately. Denial, deflect, distraction.

Scaredy cat.

Chat Noir sighed as she broke her fall onto a rooftop, landed and rolled neatly into a crouch.

What was the use of castigating herself like this? This was supposed to be a relaxing run. She rocked back onto her heels, crossed her legs and sat down, turning her face up to the moonlight.

Focus. She had to focus. She had to be reasonable, not emotional, like Ladybug. Think like Ladybug, she told herself.

Here goes, then. 

Fact: Ladybug was intelligent, rational, moral, and trustworthy.

Fact: Chat Noir trusted Ladybug to tell her the truth.

Fact: Ladybug made it very clear today just how much he valued her, even with all of her rough edges. 

Conclusion: she ought to forgive herself. For today, for now. She was still learning. And — 

“_Sometimes I think I’d rather you be in charge.” _

— he was too. They’d figure it out together. She thought of him: his arm, warm next to hers, his unflinching determination, the soft blush on his cheeks in the afternoon sun. 

There were some things, which she could admit only in the company of the moon, that she loved about being Chat Noir.

Which meant Ladybug was right, as always. She was his partner in this world, and he was hers. 

For now, Chat Noir leaned further, cast her face up higher, grinned wider at the flash, flicker, and blur of the city lights. 

She would run again. Run and run until she stopped thinking and started feeling. Maybe she would run from her feelings, or maybe she would chase them, and maybe she could do both comfortably as long as she kept moving. And if she went too far, Ladybug would meet her there at the end of the horizon. 

-o-

Later, Marinette would settle down in bed and text Alya: _ forgot to say, adrien has chat noir as his background. _

Alya would reply: ** _ugh that is so typical. a teenage boy stanning his local cat girl? groundbreaking. _ **

**Author's Note:**

> only took me three years to get around to this. guess i'm making my way through all the typical AUs at a snail's pace. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


End file.
